Law

Judicial interpretation of state constitutional rights to a healthful environment

Article Abstract:

A right to a healthful environment should be created and enforced through state constitutions instead of through the US Constitution since states can better identify local concerns and legislate accordingly. In order to give full effect to such a right, state courts must do several things. First, they must determine what constitutes a 'healthful environment'. Second, they must allow citizens to enforce their constitutional right generally, instead of limiting judicial remedies to cases where the claimed violation is grounded in complementary state legislation.

Author: Cusack, Mary Ellen

Publisher:Boston College Law SchoolPublication Name:Boston College Environmental Affairs Law ReviewSubject:LawISSN:0190-7034Year:1992

The results of snowmaking do provide winter resorts and the state where they are located with economic gain, but the long-term resource use and ecological protection issues must also be factored in. The public trust doctrine allows the balancing of economics and ecology and its use in other jurisdictions suggests it might be well suited to the New England snowmaking issue, helping the states consider key environmental values before additional ski resort development and its attendant environmental problems takes place. Relevant cases are discussed.

Author: O'Donnell, Alethea

Publisher:Boston College Law SchoolPublication Name:Boston College Environmental Affairs Law ReviewSubject:LawISSN:0190-7034Year:1996

The Endangered Species Act: what do we mean by species?

Article Abstract:

Failure to use the Biological Species Concept is undermining the Endangered Species Act's purpose of identifying endangered species and funding programs to prevent their extinction. The act's imprecise classification problem can be seen by the government's protection of the red wolf, a subspecies or a hybrid, and its lack of protection for the dusky seaside sparrow, a species which has bred with other sparrows. Amendments to the act have been proposed as part of its reauthorization.

Author: Hill, Kevin D.

Publisher:Boston College Law SchoolPublication Name:Boston College Environmental Affairs Law ReviewSubject:LawISSN:0190-7034Year:1993